“What’s disgusting is your vetting process,” Frank said, squinting at me. “She could be a spy for Hades for all you know.”
“I don’t think Hades is too concerned with one ex-Night Warden.”
“You think it’s a coincidence he picked you?” Frank scoffed. “He knows you. Better than you know yourself.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I snapped back. “She stays.”
“This is the same thing you did with Jade. You went off without checking and—”
He stopped when he saw my expression.
“This is nothing like that,” I said, my voice steel. “Koda works with me or Hades retires her. That simple.”
“It’s never that simple with gods, there’s always a cost,” Frank stared at me. “Let him retire her, Grey.”
“No,” I said, ending the conversation as Koda came downstairs. “She stays until I say otherwise.”
“If your horny lizard sneaks into my room again, I’m going to cut first and ask questions never.” Koda glared at Frank and then turned to me. “Did you send him?”
“Me? Why would I send him?” I feigned offense and stared at Frank. “He’s uncontrollable.”
“Hello, Kitty.” Frank waved a leg and tried to suppress a chuckle. “Didn’t realize you were a cat person—nice underwear.”
A fan sliced through the air where Frank had been standing a half-second earlier. It arced across the bar and returned to Koda’s hand, leaving a trail of red energy in its wake.
Frank reappeared at the end of the bar, spat, and turned to Cole. “Cole, pour me a drink. My delicate nerves can barely take the menace from fangirl.” Frank pointed at me. “At least she can keep you cool if things get hot, Grey.”
“You’re dead, lizard,” Koda hissed as she burst out of The Dive, kicking the door open and cursing.
NINE
“I THINK FRANK likes you.” I placed a hand on the Shroud and the engine roared to life before settling into a rumbling purr. “It usually takes a few days before someone tries to kill him.”
“Your lizard is a freak.” She put on her kinetics and jumped behind me on the Shroud. “What the hell is his problem?”
“Few things you should know about Frank,” I said with a sigh. “He’s touchy, angry, and ill-tempered.”
“Like his owner?”
I shook my head. “I don’t own Frank—no one does. He just showed up one day.”
“Then what the hell is he?” she asked, calming down. “Lizards don’t usually speak.”
“As far as anyone knows, Frank was a mage,” I said, starting the Shroud. “A powerful one who screwed up a transmutation spell. Which is how he ended up trapped in that body.”
“He must not have been very good,” she muttered under her breath. “What was he trying to turn into?”
“A dragon,” I said as I rode off the sidewalk and sped down the street. “A real one.”
“Serves him right,” she muttered. She reflexively held on as I picked up speed. “Where’s the fire?”
“Central Park, rummers are after my source.”
“Rummers? It’s the middle of the day,” Koda said and squeezed my abdomen as I cut a corner and jumped a curb. I sped up the FDR Drive and weaved through traffic. “They must be the new and improved versions if they aren’t bursting all over the place.”
“How good are you with those fans?” I asked as I cut through traffic. “Tell me you can actually hit something with them.”
“I’m decent,” she said. “Not at my grandfather’s level, but I can hold my own.”
“We’re facing rummers. You need to be better than decent.” I turned off the FDR at the 63rd Street exit and raced across the city. “I told Hades the only ass I cover is my own. You get yourself ghosted, it’s on you.”
“Good to know you have my back in case something goes sideways.”
“Have your back?” I said incredulously. “When it gets real and your next breath may be your last—you’re alone. No one has your back.”
“Weren’t you part of the Night Wardens?” she asked. “Didn’t they have your back? Didn’t you trust them?”
“I’ll tell you what I trust,” I said, holding the memories back and keeping the rage out of my voice. “I trust my eye, my gun, and my bullets. If you want to survive on these streets more than one night, trust no one. Not even me, understand?”
Silence. She shifted in the seat and looked over my right shoulder. “I’m just trying to figure out which one got you kicked out of the Night Wardens, the winning personality or the warm cuddly friendliness?”
“Neither,” I said, turning into Columbus Circle. “I left them after they forced me to kill my partner.”
This time I expected the silence. The image of Jade’s twisted body rushed at me as we entered under the canopy of trees. She used to love Central Park. The moment of her death crept up and replayed itself in my mind, opening up old wounds and pouring in ample doses of salt.
Lyrra’s words whispered in my ear again.
You have to do it, Grey. The spell is out of control and will kill us all if you don’t. She needs to die and you’re the only one who can get close enough.
“Stryder, where are all the people?” The undercurrent of fear in Koda’s voice brought me back. “The park is never this empty.”
“Mantis shrimp,” I said, looking around. I let my senses expand and felt a tremor of activity on the fringes of my range ahead of us. “Ever hear of it?”
“Mantis shrimp? What, are you hungry?”
“Magic-users are like the shrimp.” I turned off the engine and coasted for a few feet before getting off the Shroud and parking it. “Mantis shrimp can see twelve colors, while humans can only see three. Magic-users can see in a runispectral wavelength once our abilities manifest.”
“That doesn’t explain why the park is empty,” she said and flicked her wrists with a gesture. The fans materialized in her hands a second later. “That just explains why we can see supernatural creatures and normals can’t.”
I stopped and felt for the latent runic signatures in the area. Street had been through here, with a larger signature overlapping his. This tracking ability is what made the Wardens dangerous. All I needed was the faintest runic signature and I could locate anyone given enough time.
“When do normals see past the veil and into the runispectral wavelengths?” I unholstered Fatebringer and picked up my pace. “When do they see the creatures?”
“When they feel intense fear,” Koda answered. “I’ve had targets see through my camouflage because of the fear response.”
I nodded and signaled for her to stop behind some trees. At the edge of the Great Lawn, I saw a man running in our direction. Close behind him, a group of ten rummers followed.
“The cortisol, adrenaline, and glucose cocktail allows them to see past the veil,” I said, slowing my breathing. “On some level their limbic system is picking up a threat. That’s why the park is empty—everyone left.”
Koda nodded and closed her eyes. She said some words under her breath and her fans glowed bright orange-red for a few seconds, resembling hot lava. The magic wasn’t strong enough to fire on my auditory senses but I sensed its presence as she spoke.
I took aim and fired. One of the group dropped, but got to its feet seconds later and resumed the chase. “So much for LIT rounds.” I pulled out a speed loader and emptied Fatebringer into my palm, switching out for negation rounds. “Street!” I yelled. “This way.”
“Do we take any of them alive?” Koda asked as we moved into position. “Perhaps a sample of the blood?”
I shook my head as the man looked in my direction and ran at me. “Cut first and cut fast,” I said as they approached. “Rummers will shred you if you let them. Don’t let them. We can get blood afterward if we really need it.”
Koda took a defensive stance and opened both fans. The sound was a thwump followed by a metallic ring. Red energy cascaded from them as she outstretched both arm
s releasing the fans.
I realized two things as the fans decapitated two rummers and circled back to Koda, decapitating two more on the return trip: Her fans were dangerous weapons in the right hands, and there were a lot more than ten rummers headed our way.
Street turned on his heel and joined his hands together. Black tendrils shot out from his fingers, impaling five rummers and disintegrating them on impact. I shot the last rummer as the larger group came into view. It was easily three times the size of the first group.
“That—is a lot of rummers,” Koda said backing up. “Unless you have a machine gun in that coat, we need to get out of here in a hurry.”
“Get Street to the Shroud,” I said, heading toward the rummers. “Get out of the park. I’ll meet you at The Dive.”
“You can’t take on all those rummers alone.” Koda stood her ground. “Are you insane?”
“I don’t intend to,” I said. “Now go!”
I cut across the pack of rummers and fired into the throng, and they diverted their attention to the immediate threat. In the distance, I heard the engine of the Shroud roar to life and diminish as they left the park.
I ran on the lawn with the pack after me. I had a few questions for Street, but first I had to survive a mindless mob of hungry vampires.
TEN
I HOLSTERED FATEBRINGER. I needed both hands free if this was going to work. I didn’t relish the pain, but it was the only way to get rid of the rummer mob without endangering the normals in the area. I put some distance between us and managed to get behind one of the large boulders that dotted the landscape of the park.
Casting was my only option.
They had my runic scent now and I could hear them closing in on my location. I needed them to get close for this to work.
The energy flowed through me. The pain was immediate and blinding. I went down on one knee to catch my breath as the mob approached. Most of them were dressed in rags and torn clothing. Their glowing red eyes, bright even in the afternoon, only saw one thing when they focused on me: their next meal.
I gestured and my blood turned to acid in my veins, burning everything. I clenched my teeth to block out the pain and managed to finish the rune. Black tendrils erupted from the grass and impaled the rummers in place. Their howls of pain filled the afternoon, followed by my grunt of bone-crushing agony.
Holding them in place was the first phase of the spell. I needed to finish before the pain overwhelmed me and they got free. I began tracing the second set of runes, when the sound of foghorns filled the park. Someone was casting something large and nasty.
Sweat poured into my eyes and the ground swayed for a moment as I paused to catch my breath again. I spat out blood and began to trace the runes again. I felt a surge of energy wash over the area. The tendrils disappeared.
“Shit,” I said and drew Fatebringer. I formed a black orb of energy and released it into the center of the rummers as I started firing. The explosion of negative energy scattered them as I dropped a few more with negation rounds.
A rummer broke away from the pack and leaped at me. I turned, “ready to introduce it to my boot”, when its head flew off, causing the body to burst into dust.
“What the—?” I looked around and saw a few more become instant dust clouds. “I thought I told you to get Street out of the park?”
“I did get him out of the park,” she said, ducking under several swipes and slashing with one fan as she released the other, dusting several of the rummers that were advancing on our position. “Now I’m here to get you out of the park.”
“I have this handled,” I said with a growl as I fired and erased another group of the mindless vampires. “I don’t need help.”
The pain behind my eyes throbbed and my grip on Fatebringer was shaky at best. I was glad to see her, even though I said otherwise. I didn’t look forward to being torn to pieces by the rummers, which would have been the outcome if she hadn’t disobeyed me.
“Of course you do,” Koda said, catching a fan and removing the arm of a rummer who had been about to slash at her. “This looks completely handled.”
A surge of energy thrummed against my senses. More rummers were coming.
“Where did you leave the Shroud?” In a few minutes, we were going to be overrun. “We have more rummers coming.”
“More?” she said, jumping back and rolling away from a group of rummers intent on making her a snack. I fired and dropped three more. “How many more?”
“Too many for us to deal with, without attracting major attention,” I said as I speed loaded another seven rounds. “We need to bail or we’ll become lunch.”
Koda backflipped away from another swipe and clambered over the boulder behind me. “This way.”
I glanced up at her, shook my head, and fired an orb of air at the ground. It launched me over the boulder. I landed on my ass on the other side as the rummers screamed in frustration. A few feet away, Koda started the Shroud and I jumped on, leaving the mob of angry vampires behind us.
“How the hell did you start—?”
“Whoever did your runic defenses needs to brush up on security,” she said, racing out of the park. “These were easier than the ones on your pistol.”
“You and I are going to have a talk about personal boundaries.”
“We could always go back, and I could drop you off with the angry vamps?” she said, and I could hear the smile. “Which, by the way, aren’t leaving the park because—?”
“Because they’re being controlled by something or someone.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” she said. “Who needs to control rummers?”
“That’s the right question.” I turned back and saw the rummers running in the opposite direction and dispersing. “I’m going to have to make some calls.”
She handled the Shroud with ease—not that I would ever tell her that. That was twice that she had bypassed defenses meant to incapacitate or kill without a second thought. She was dangerous and lethal. I needed to speak to Corbel, but first things first.
“Where’s Street?” She swerved expertly between two benches as we left the park. “Tell me you didn’t leave him somewhere in the park.”
“Over there.” She pointed with her chin. “Old guy looks in bad shape.”
“Show some respect,” I said, motioning to him. “He’s older than both of us combined and has more power in one finger than you have in your entire body.”
“Why didn’t he erase the rummers then?” she asked indignantly. “Would’ve saved us a lot of trouble.”
“Having power isn’t the same as being able to use it,” I answered. “He went through a rough patch a few years back. Fried him. He doesn’t remember much of who he was. He casts on instinct now.”
“This is your source—some half-baked mage firing on three cylinders?”
“Street isn’t just my source, he’s my friend,” I said, keeping my anger in check. “Do not insult him.”
“Got it. Be nice to the senior citizen.”
“Nothing happens on the street without his knowing about it—that’s how he earned his name,” I growled at her. “If he says something is going down, it’s as good as done.”
On the other side of Columbus Circle stood Street, fidgeting and looking nervous. He wore an old coat over an old threadbare shirt and worn-out pants. Everything about his appearance seemed old, except his socks and boots. I always made sure to get him a new pair when they wore out. That and food were the only things he would accept from me.
He pulled his long gray hair into a ponytail as I approached, but he never took his eyes off the park entrance.
“Eyes and ears open, mouth closed,” I said as Koda parked the Shroud in front of Masa, a Dark Council neutral zone. “He doesn’t like strangers and they don’t come stranger than you right now.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to the old mage whose life I just saved,” she said. “Or to his deranged friend who is currently batshit crazy.”
>
I glared at her, and she raised her hands in surrender. I felt her shadowing me silently as I walked over to the old mage and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks, Grey,” Street said as I started walking away from Masa. The last thing I needed was the Dark Council on my ass about a bunch of angry vamps running around the Park. “You saved me in there.”
“How’re you feeling, Street?” I waved his words away. “You getting enough to eat? Ezra says he isn’t seeing you downtown much these days.”
“I like the other guy—Pieri, or is it Piero? Memory isn’t what it used to be,” Street answered. “His food is always good and he’s closer. He’s nice to me.”
“Did Ezra say something?” I asked, concerned. “He can be a bit odd, but he’s good people.”
“No no no,” Street answered quickly, shaking his head. “His food is good too—real good, especially the sandwiches, but something about him feels wrong, so I go to Pieri’s. He’s only a vampire. Ezra is more than a vampire…cold. He scares me deep in my bones.”
I was certain Ezra got that reaction often. Piero Roselli owned several restaurants around the city. I’d made sure Street was welcome at any of his establishments after resolving a delicate situation for Piero a few years ago.
“Besides, Ezra is too far, too far,” Street said patting down his coat. “Have something for you. They were my friends, Grey. Now they’re wrong, all wrong.”
He handed me a vial with a dark liquid. I knew what it was without having to open it—Redrum.
“Where did you get this?”
“They forced them to drink it, Grey. The blackboots,” Street said, looking around. “Turned my friends all wrong. I have to go. Need to get safe. They’re after me.”
I wasn’t going to get any information from him in this state. Stress flipped him from lucid to deranged paranoia. It didn’t get more stressful than being chased by a pack of rummers, or whoever he felt the ‘blackboots’ were.
“Street,” I said, grabbing his arm when he wouldn’t look at me, “I need you to stay out of the park. Can you do that?”
Wander_A Night Warden Novel Page 5